Ann Coulter rips ‘shallow, narcissistic conman’ Trump, ‘lying media’ at Forum Club

Ann Coulter rips ‘shallow, narcissistic conman’ Trump, ‘lying media’ at Forum Club

By George Bennett Posted Mar 11, 2019 at 4:55 PM Updated Mar 12, 2019 at 9:01 AM


WEST PALM BEACH — Aside from the 600 or so people who came to hear her speak at the Kravis Center on Monday, conservative flamethrower Ann Coulter says it’s hard to find people she can talk to now that she’s directed her scorching criticism on President Donald Trump and his failure to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

“It’s frustrating,” Palm Beach resident Coulter said at a Forum Club of the Palm Beaches luncheon. “I can’t talk to Trump detractors because, as the subtitle to my last book indicated, they’re insane. I can’t talk to the Trump flatterers because they think as soon as it comes out of his mouth, it has happened. No, he’s an excellent talker. It’s just when it comes to doing anything that he falls down on the job.”

Rivaling Trump as a target of Coulter’s ire was the media.

“Trump may be a shallow, narcissistic conman, but that doesn’t mean the media are not the enemy of the people. Both things can be true,” said Coulter. She later said the one positive of Trump’s presidency could be the “total destruction of the lying media.”

Related: Ann Coulter booking for Forum Club irks liberals, Trump supporters
Coulter, a Trump cheerleader in 2016 because of his hard-line stance on illegal immigration, has become a harsh critic of the president, accusing him of failing to back up his rhetoric. A December Coulter column calling Trump “gutless,” along with criticism from other immigration hard-liners, is credited or blamed for goading the president into insisting on $5.7 billion in wall funding and plunging the federal government into a 35-day partial shutdown when congressional Democrats refused.

Trump recently told reporters he hardly knows Coulter and described her as “off the reservation.”

But Coulter was on the president’s mind during his weekend visit to Mar-a-Lago. The president called her a “Wacky Nut Job” in a Saturday tweet and insisted “I am winning on the Border. Major sections of Wall are being built.”

Related: Trump rakes in $7 million for re-election bid during Mar-a-Lago weekend

Coulter brushed off the president’s criticism in an interview with The Palm Beach Post after her Forum Club remarks.

“I don’t know why he doesn’t just ignore me. He doesn’t mind ignoring the rest of his base,” Coulter said.

In her luncheon speech, Coulter compared Trump to the late President George H.W. Bush, who lost his 1992 re-election bid after breaking his promise not to raise taxes.
“The first George Bush, for example, ‘Read my lips, no new taxes.’ OK — he said it one time at the convention. One time. Trump talked about building the wall at least once a day for 18 months,” Coulter said.

If the wall-supporting Trump base isn’t energized in 2020, Coulter said, “the nightmare scenario is that Democrats — and they have gone mad — that they elect someone completely crazy, just wild left-wing. That’s the debate right now, are they going to go with someone half normal or are they going to go with an AOC type?” Coulter said, referring to left-wing freshman U.S. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York.
In an audience question-and-answer session, Coulter fielded a few questions about her caustic style.

“Do you believe your work helps to heal our nation’s divisions or make them more pronounced?” said one written query submitted by an audience member.
“For one thing, who cares about divisions? That’s how democracy works,” Coulter replied. “I think we could use a little more honesty in our political discourse. I’m hard-pressed to name another political commentator who isn’t making money off taking a particular position, on the left and the right.”

Another questioner asked: “When troubled people are animated by extreme rhetoric, do you ever become concerned or question your style? And do you have any thoughts about the vitriolic political climate and how it might incite others?”

“Yeah, I have something to say: Grow up,” Coulter responded. “I promise you nothing I’ve said comes close to what’s said about me live on national TV. Look, we live in a democracy. We’re supposed to have roiling debates ... ‘Why can’t we all just get along?’ OK, give in to me — we’ll get along fine.”

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/2...-at-forum-club